I’ve had more free time lately, so I’ve been able to work on a few projects. A few are still in progress, but today I just finished my skirt!

I have a skirt from ASOS that I really liked and I wanted to recreate it. A while back when Joann’s Fabric in San Ramon was closing they had a 12 patterns for $2 sale so I hoarded a bunch of patterns, and found this great skirt pattern that was super similar. This is the outcome. It was my first time using a very thin fabric. One tip I have is to always use the right size needle, (size 9 for this) so that the fabric works well with it. There are some puckering effects that I’m not happy about but I just wanna twirl around in it so I stopped caring.

In other news, I re-opened my little shop. I haven’t had much time to promote it, but you can check it out here: http://brainmade.storeenvy.com and shop. I only have a few goods on there right now, but plan on adding more and eventually promoting my store more… not sure how to go about that yet but we’ll see. But the big reason I opened my little shop is I got to sell my stuff at Turbo Tea Party in SJ. That was really fun! It motivated me to make more items and get more creative…I’ve developed a long laundry list of items to get through. Lots of drawings to make. Cheers for now.

I was lucky enough to get some of this super ultra soft leather from my friend Alyssa, and it had been sitting in my fabric pile for a long time! I was super in love with Baggu’s drawstring purse. It looked simple enough to make, so I made a small pattern from the dimensions they had online and made this:

I added rivets (my first time using my new hole punch and rivet kit) and then made some tassels for the ends. The only thing that I wish I did is used a thicker leather for the bottom, since the leather is almost too buttery soft for the circular bottom, but when I put my phone in it it seems to hold up to the bucket shape quite well. This was my first time sewing with real leather (in comparison to vinyl) so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

My grey jeans ripped so I couldn’t wear them anymore, and I’ve been wanting to make something out of them for a long time. I’ve been hoarding a lot of fabrics so I decided to make a bucket backpack out of it. I was inspired by a few bags I’ve seen. For this bag I kinda decided to wing it, since I just made a similar style bag. Probably not my best idea, I think I got really really lucky.

old jeans, ripped right in the butt (probably due to the frequent amount of splits I do)

initial sketches, I was going to put pockets in the front, but I ended up with too little fabric.

you can also see another project i am planning out really quickly.

There is a hidden iphone/wallet compartment on the back panel. You can access it without having to unload your bag and open the main compartment. I like that it is hidden on my back so that I can feel safe with my iphone near me at all times but not in a super visible pocket. This feature is something I fell in love with on my incase bag. I used it every day when I was working in the city as I was always grabbing my wallet/clipper card to get in and out of bart.

Another note about this, is that I used all reclaimed material, except for the two zippers. The ladder locks and metal hook came off of some old keychains and things. I keep a lot of random hardware pieces and hoard a lot of fabric. The lining is made of an old t-shirt. I love bright interiors, makes it easier to find stuff!

I hate myself for using my iphone all the time for photos but it is too easy! I think its time to buy a nice camera, I’ve been putting it off for a long time.

Work has been busy, so that means less time to make and design stuff for me. A lot of my ideas have been on paper, and I’ve had no time to create anything. I have an idea I’ve been playing around with in my head for awhile though. Hopefully this holiday season will give me a bit of time to work on it.

My last minute halloween costume! I was a paper doll, hehe. I just used some poster board from the dollar store and cut everything out and taped it together. I wore a black dress and then used string to tie the “dress” around my waist. I put the purse on my actual purse, so it was “functioning”. I made hairbows and taped them to my hair ties.

I took some scrap vinyl lying around to make this quick DIY. I was feening for one of these for awhile, and took a break from working for this quick DIY.

Weekends go by too quickly. I have so many ideas and I need to get on them, but the last thing I want to do when I get a break off of work is look at another computer screen for hours…

Awhile back my friend had leftover fabric and left some for me. It was very bright yellow. I had no idea what to do with it, and kept it for several months.

I shopped around online for clothes in the color yellow to inspire my hunt. I fell in love with this dress, but I realized the reason why I liked it was the mustard color. So I dyed the fabric with a dark brown dye… only for it to turn out like a gross muddy army green. It looked ugly and discouraged me from moving forward with the pattern… So I tried again, only this time using bleach to lighten the color up a bit… and it turned into a lovely mustard color! Thank you bleach! I then started down the long road of making the dress, using the same princess seam pattern from my last refashion. I’m not usually one to start from scratch. I like to buy things and take it in there, shorten it a bit here… but i felt that a circle skirt is easy enough to try out.

It took me all weekend to figure out but I’m so happy with it. I had trouble with the armpit fitting so I had to pin and repin. Every day I try to research and look up sewing tutorials just to keep myself inspired and understand how to finish a dress so that it looks professional. The inside is a hot mess though as I haven’t finished all the seams properly, but since its a knit material, I don’t have to! And yesterday I bought this lovely belt at target for $5.

See that pink fabric in the back? Eventually it’ll turn into something… I hope. Coming soon.

I had this dress I bought from target for $5 bucks for awhile… I’ve worn it a few times but I wasn’t thrilled about wearing it. So I changed it.

The after didn’t turn out as great as I thought. I was taking inspiration from this top but I realized that the stripes and the placement is what made it. It was my first venture into the princess seam, and I made my own pattern from this princess seam generator. I drew out the pattern in adobe illustrator and printed it out! So that was pretty fun and I hope to find more ways to incorporate my cad skills and the like into outfits. That would be cool. Although the top isn’t crazy, at least now I will wear this out more and it won’t sit in my “donate” pile.

I got a job. It is really really cool, and I’m loving it so far. I don’t want to get much in to it though, but its at a small studio in SF called Studio Far. I get to help design bags, and its awesome. I get so excited about it every day. I love it! I am so thankful and blessed to have such an awesome opportunity. Being paid to do what you love is so awesome… It feels too good to be true, so I try to appreciate every day of the job.

Because of this job this whole crafting summer thing hasn’t really happened, but after a very depressing shopping trip today I realized that I need to stop BUYING things to make and use what I already have. (except for shoes, I am on an on going quest to buy good quality shoes after having serious bouts with plantar fasciitis) My goal is to try to upcycle clothes that I’m unhappy with, and slightly alter clothes that I don’t wear because they fit funny.

Trying to get back into sewing. I’ve been having a hard time, with a few botched projects that didn’t turn out. I’ve been doodling stuff, what sucks is I get some great ideas in my head during bike rides and I can’t seem to draw and bike at the same time.

But here is my first real attempt at “upcycling” or refashioning clothing. This was a strapless 3 tiered ruffled dress, but it just made me look too ruffled and fluffy, so I made it into a peplum top.